Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Just Before Exams

Classes are over and exams don't start until next week for me. This means I have a lot of time to either study for exams, travel around New Zealand more or just lie in the Sun and spend time at the beach. The first option is just so not-so-study-abroad like. The second option is costly and with all the two week tour of South Island I did (read my earlier posts), no more money left for more travel. So, basically all I have been doing couple past days is lying in the Sun in Albert Park which reminds me of Central Park of New York, especially when it's bright and sunny and everyone is just lying and dozing off.

Sand castle made by anonymous architects. Photo: Digital Subway
 I have also been occasionally checking out the beach, especially when the weather forecasts are friendly. After all, the beach is only 20 minutes away, a simple bus ride. I will let the pictures speak rest of the story. 

Me at the beach in my fancy shirt. Photo by: Jonathon Feinmann
Franky Sowers showing off his acrobatic skills. Photo by: Digital Subway
Franky again. Photo by: Digital Subway
Auckland at sunset from Mission Bay Beach. Photo by: Digital Subway
People just chilling in the Sun in Albert Park. Photo by: Digital Subway

Fun times till exams start. I am going to Bay of Islands next weekend which means more beach time. Cheers. Will keep you all posted.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Missing Joy in Life

This is a guest post by an author who has chosen to be known by his psuedo name "The Philosopher".

Something is missing. What it is, I do not know. Wow, this sounds almost like statement in the Matrix made by Neo. Maybe it is why I so much like the Matrix. I feel it is so relevant and philosophical to my and other peoples’ lives too. Alright, this was a tangential offshoot. Something definitely does not feel right. Nothing or no one makes me happy anymore. How or since when this feeling started, I cannot recall. But I seek solace in loneliness, away from presence of any human soul. I find myself trying to distance from human company, slipping quietly from any human gathering into solitude. I fear I am starting to earn the reputation of a loner. I spent entire Sunday afternoon cleaning my room and then staring at my computer either blogging or browsing on facebook. In the evening, I got bored with my computer and so took refuge in my second favourite place after bedroom- general library.
Sometimes I wish I had kept a journal where I could have just let loose my random rants. It would have made me feel better at least instead of keeping these weird thoughts bottled up. There is a fear in expressing such thoughts since it could easily earn one the label of a “weirdo”. Everyone has these thoughts once in a while, some people hide it while others cannot hide it and hence appear as weak ones. After all, how can humans despise human company and have any affinity towards loneliness? To be human is to be social. Civilization has designed activities, rituals and organized family units so that humans can live in groups/cohorts. How can one reject all this? If you feel lonely, find a hobby, play sports, join a club or simply go listen to music, watch movies, et cetera. Is the desire to be on his own, a natural drive for ‘The Naked Ape’ aka humans as Desmond Morris likes to call.
I know no one is ever, and I really mean ever going to read this random incoherent rant that I am writing past midnight instead of going to bed despite knowing I have to wake up early for class at 8 am. Yet, my fingers keep moving and somehow thoughts keep pouring. Maybe because I haven’t written freestyle in a long time. Everytime I have tried to write conformist pieces, ones that I can post to my blog and would be acceptable by others since many can and would associate those words with my image/personality.
Do I even know the source of my longing for loneliness? Why I am trying to run away from human civilization? Is it because my “unhappiness is a direct result of contradiction between my natural drive and civilization’s needs”? Yes, this phrase in quotes is Freudian idea that I read today in Elizabeth’s book, “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s search....”. It’s such a good book. I’ve said this before too. Maybe I like the book because Liz, the protagonist is lonely and depressed too. I find solace in her character and portrayal. And judging from its immense popularity and subsequent filming of a movie based on its story proves that other people identified themselves with the lonely, depressed pleasure seeking protagonist woman. By pleasure I do not mean bodily pleasure alone. She claims she isn’t seeking that even though I can sense she is lying when she says that.
So, what am I seeking? Is it love? Sex? Pleasure? Enlightenment? I do not know for sure. It may be more on the lines of joy. I am seeking joy. I think joy is missing in my life. I do experience occasional joys though. For instance, when I am just lying down or napping in Albert park under the Sun in the afternoon practising the art of doing nothing, that’s when I feel joyful. The same joy is felt when I go running in Auckland domain during the evenings. Joy is greater when I go alone because often I cannot catch up with pace of my other friend that I used to go running with. Listening to music, especially sufi and qawwali by Nusrat Fateh and Ghulam Ali brings joy. But besides these, I struggle to find joy. Drinking offers occasional escapes from boredom but I know it is like taking a shortcut and thus not good for you/me.
I need to learn how to derive joy from mundane worldly activities. I need a GURU.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Wellesley Student Apartments, Auckland: A review

(Disclaimer: This post is a review of Wellesley Student Apartments managed by AUT (Auckland University of Technology) on 8-10 Mount Street, Auckland, New Zealand. Contents of this post is based totally on my stay here from July to October 2010 and any criticism should be directed to me. Although my accommodation was arranged by my study abroad program IFSA-Butler, the views expressed here reflect my personal experiences and should not be taken as a general experience of all study abroad/exchange students.)
Wellesley Student Apartments lies on Mount Street
I will try to keep this post short and sweet, possibly numbered style to make it more readable. 

First of all, the benefits of staying in Wellesley Student Apartments:
  1. Close proximity to AUT and University of Auckland. It's only 5 minutes walk at most to UoA and is probably one of the closest university apartments you can find.
  2. Five people share an apartment but each get their own bedroom. Nice kitchen, two bathrooms and pretty good living room with a TV with 5-6 channels.
  3. Utility costs like water and electricity is included in costs so that you don't have to worry about it.
  4. Has its own laundry facilities. I will discuss this more later since laundry facilities are often disappointing
  5. Conducts events occassionally to encourage mixing up of residents.
Wellesley Student Apartments, inhabited by almost 650 people.

It looks pretty appealing right. Basically, it offers all you want in a decent apartment. But there are several issues with their management. 

My Living Room in Wellesley Student Apartment.
Problems you may face while staying in Wellesley Student Apartments:
  1. WSA Management will treat you as if they have absolute control over you. If your flat gets a violation for being noisy, even if you appeal that you were not there, you would still get a fine. I will elaborate on this later.
  2. Internet service provided by Orcon is extremely slow even though when they sell you, they'll tell you that it is broadband. It is the only broadband service you can purchase and use in WSA dorms. You could buy other wireless providers. Internet is so slow that I can never even access my online banking. WSA buys a limited amount of bandwidth and when that is used up, everyone's internet becomes slow. So, if you use 5 GB per month out of your allocated 10 GB and another resident uses 20GB, then everyone's internet gets slow irrespective of how much you used individually. Sucks.
  3. Laundry facilities suck. Read my other entry on Laundry Nightmare at Wellesley Student Apartments. More than half of the washers they have are dysfunctional and they have not been repaired since I started living here. As for dryers, they will never dry up your clothes. Many residents walk across the street to Forte Laundromat, a commercial facility to do their laundry. It took me more than two months to find out three secret dyers that dry your clothes, others don't. They're located just as you walk in to the laundry room.
  4. There are four elevators/lifts for almost 650 residents of which only a few are operating at any given time. You will waste so much time just waiting for elevators. You cannot use stairs to enter the building even though you could use it to exit. Since it has 14 floors, using stairs is very tiring for residents living higher up. On one weekend, starting from Friday night to Monday morning, only one elevator was functioning for D-H section, for 325 residents and the floor was all filled in puke. Some asshole must have thrown up at night after getting drunk. Residents were forced to use the only elevator. Imagine being in that elevator. The management made no effort to get it cleaned up. It was disgusting.
  5. Bedrooms have inadequate lighting for studying. Bedroom has one light bulb while living room has three and even restroom has two. The book-shelf which is immovable lies between the only light-bulb on the wall and my study table. Not everyone wants to buy a table lamp especially if you are staying here for a short time.
  6. Apartments do not have balconies. For the amount one pays, one would expect a balcony. WSA's next door neighbour O'Rorke Hall which is residential dorm managed by University of Auckland has really nice balconies and roof-tops.
  7. There are lots of exchange students from America living here. I was placed in an apartment with all Americans. Many Americans were also placed in all-American flats which they absolutely hated because they studied abroad to meet other people, not live with all Americans. Where and whom you stay with will have a big role in your living experience. I didn't mind living with all Americans but would have loved to live with people of other nationalities. When I filled my residence preference form, I chose to live with internationals and Kiwis but somehow was placed in all American flat. It's much easier for WSA this way but it misses the whole point of study abroad/exchange.
  8. There is no sense of privacy in your flats. Security will bust your apartment after midnight if you have people who do not live there even if you are quiet and no one has complained about it. They will hand you violation ticket and you have to pay fines if you receive three of them. If you want friends come over and just have a casual gathering, you have to register it as a party and has to be over before midnight on weekends and 10:30 on weekdays. If your friend is intoxicated and unable to walk back home, he cannot crash on your couch. Any overnight guest has to be registered beforehand with signatures from all five residents and only one guest can stay for a maximum of one night. After that, you have to pay 20 bucks per night. No extra bedding or anything is provided. Basically, even after paying for your flats, WSA management will keep an eye on what you do inside it, you're never without watchful eyes of Big Brother WSA. It really sucks to be living under so much rules and regulations even though you are now in college.
  9. Room inspections before end of semester is really harsh and unreasonable. WSA will expect you to clean everything including toilets, showers, kitchen, windows even if they were dirty when you started living. My bedroom failed because my mattress did not have a protective cover, which they were supposed to give me at the beginning of my residence. I didn't even know I was supposed to have one. The lady conducting inspection is the most rude person and a cruel soul you will ever come across. On more than four occasions, she stopped me from entering the building asking me if I live in WSA. Although it may be justified on grounds of being extra-careful, I genuinely think she has a problem with my face. If your room inspection fails second time, everyone living in the flat gets a fine meaning everyone suffers if there is one messy person living in the apartment who fails to clean/vaccum his bedroom. You think that is fair? Tragedy of the Commons, bro.
  10. On one occasion, the inspection lady knocked on a bedroom door and entered without even waiting for a response. I will not quote the name of the resident to protect his identity. That is how WSA management treats your privacy.
My Kitchen in Wellesley Student Apartment.
 I get nightmares about security breaking into my room while I'm sleeping or doing something else. I cannot deal with WSA management anymore. My apartment got three violations for having guests past midnight so I had to pay 50 dollars fine. I tried to talk to security who handed us violation but he said I needed to talk to management. I tried to appeal to management that I was not even present in Auckland let alone apartment during first violation and had just walked in 5 minutes before my third violation. They said I cannot talk to the manager, instead I had to write a formal letter which I did. I was expecting to talk and sort this out but five days later I received a letter from management that said that my case had been talked with security and fines cannot be removed. If I did not pay fines within next three days, more fines would accrue for not paying that fine. I was shocked by their style of unilateral decision making. Their bureaucracy in which security directs you to management and management cites security as basis of their decision shows how they deny you a voice to even appeal against any charge brought against you. Tired of this, I decided to pay fines that I did not deserve. Writing another letter would not only be a waste of my time and energy but would exert additional pressure on environment with waste of paper. I hope they recycled my letter.

My Bedroom in Wellesley Student Apartments
 Personally, I would not recommend anyone living in Wellesley Student Apartments because even though apartments are nice and it is close to the university, management will ruin the experience. Despite being merely caretakers, they will act as if they fucking own WSA. The only person who has been reasonable to me is a guy named Tom. He is really nice. If you have any problem, don't talk to receptionists, talk instead to Tom. Other people will treat you as a potential perpetrator/violator. I had been trying so hard not to write this post for so long because I dislike saying not-so-pleasant things about others, but my study abroad experience was really affected by them. I get nightmares about that evil-faced lady who keeps asking me if I live here or that my apartment is disgusting and unhygienic.

Alternatives. If you planning to study abroad in Auckland and need a place to stay for a semester, there are several alternatives that you may want to read about and do some research before arriving here.
  1. International House managed by University of Auckland
  2. O'Rorke Hall managed by University of Auckland, whcih is also only five minutes walk to the university
  3. Parnell Student Village, which is located in a really nice neighborhood and only 15 minutes away in walking distance. I would recommend staying here because it is more international than WSA which is mostly occupied by Americans. Even Americans living in WSA think they would have loved to stay with people of other nationalities.
If anyone is hurt by any statements expressed here, I offer my apologies and even though it appears as a hate post against WSA Management, it was necessary to say these things so that other people don't have to go through same problems. Please leave your comments/feedbacks/criticisms regarding this post if you have any.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Book Recommendations

I have been wanting to write about lots of stuff, all the thoughts I have been having. But somehow I cannot allocate any time to write it on my blog for several reasons ranging from its questionable appropriateness to fear of small reader audience. So much energy spent and only a few "loyal" readers (I know I have some) would ever read it. This thought puts me off every time.

Instead of writing what's on my mind and expressing my ideas, I have resorted to absorbing /cramming yet more material, information and literature in my mind through reading books, mostly popular non-fiction. Ideas that they have filled me with make me feel albeit for an instant like an intellectual. All of those ideas are borrowed obviously but now I am starting to see it manifest in real life. Human behaviour is mostly what I have been reading about. But I have learnt about it from different perspectives: from a zoologist Desmond Morris, a behavioural psychologist Paul Ekman, evolutionist and physiologist Jared Diamond and another psychologist Nancy Etcoff among others. Below are some of the books I would recommend you read if you haven't already. Most of them are relatively old, meaning published before this millenium (2000s).

  1. The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
  2. Survival of the Fittest by Nancy Etcoff
  3. Telling Lies by Paul Ekman
  4. Why is sex Fun? by Jared Diamond
The books listed above are by no means the masterpieces by respective authors for they have written several other notable good books. Feel free to read other books by these authors. After reading The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris, I set on to watch six volume TV series called The Human Animal presented by Morris and premiered on BBC in 1960s or something. I have only managed to watch four out of six since all are on video cassettes that have to be played in VCR players in the library. And, I am only allowed to watch them inside the library. I don't mind that.
I have learnt quite a bit from these books and some have overlapping descriptions and examples. For instance, Diamond, Morris and Etcoff all use example of a peacock's tail to stress the fact that it is used as a courtship signal since it advertises its ability to maintain such a resource consuming entity. If a peacock can afford to maintain such a bulky and beautiful tail despite of being vulnerable to be preyed upon, then it surely must be special and capable of devoting resources to her partner or off-springs. I will describe more in my other posts how I have started experimenting with the ideas presented in these books in my real life. I have started watching people more now, observing their behavior and trying to understand why they do what they do. A human watcher, you can call me. Desmond Morris employs secret cameras in restaurants and bars to understand human courtship behavior. So, I don't feel bad about it.

Today I was reading the book called "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for..." by Elizabeth Gilbert and is truly entertaining. I don't particularly like fiction, but descriptions in this book is so honest that it almost seems real. I seem to agree with lots of her statements and inadvertently feel like I am the protagonist. It's crazy to realize men and women despite their biological differences share so much in common when it comes to desires and instincts. I thank her for giving such honest descriptions about human feelings. At times, it does get cheesy though when she starts talking about God and adds drama which breaks authenticity and makes it seem like yet another fiction novel. 

I haven't finished the book yet since the library did not let me borrow it. It is listed under Continuing Education section and apparently I have to be a member of that to borrow it. Strange. I am also going to watch the movie based on the book today. I wonder how it will be to read rest of the book after watching the movie. Julia Roberts is my favorite actress and so I am confident she will do justice to the role of the protagonist in Elizabeth's book. This book is written in a style that appears a work of fiction but is also an awful lot like autobiography of the author. It reminds me of Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. You should read it, if you haven't. It's wonderful and has an open ending.

The ideas expressed in this post will be followed up later in other future posts.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Best Day in New Zealand

Yesterday was probably one of the best days I've had so far in New Zealand, full of surprises that is.

I woke up around noon with my friend's text that reminded me of the rugby game in the afternoon between Auckland University and Engineers. Interestingly enough, my flatmate Frankie was playing for University while my Thermodynamics classmate Lucca was playing for Engineering Team. We were quite confused as to which team to support since both of them had one of our friends each. The winner was going to receive 500 dollars worth of beer at a bar. We were poised to be treated no matter which team won. We weren't worried.

The day begun with a free bus ride from the university to Rugby stadium. And that included a free awesome T-shirt with an iconic New Zealand map imprinted on the front, a cougar mascot on the left arm and Tui logo at the back. We were all so happy to receive such an awesome T-shirt for free. On arrival, there was free hot dogs and vege patties for us. Just before the game began, we found out that we could receive free booze on showing the T-shirt we got for free on the free bus. We couldn't ask for more. The game was very exciting. The final score was 20-19, with Engineers beating the University team by a small margin. We got to watch an exciting rugby game for free while drinking free booze, sporting a free T-shirt and not having to worry about how to get back since a free bus ride was waiting at the end of the game.

New Zealand's map on the front of free T-shirt that we got. Photo: Digital Subway

Tui logo and see the Cougar icon on the left arm. Photo: Digital Subway


My friend Vikram jumping on the trampoline during Rugby game. Photo: Digital Subway
I wasn't prepared to call it a day yet. My IFSA-Butler friend Mathieu had told me about the All Whites vs Honduras football game during the evening to be held in Auckland. For those of you who missed Fifa world cup games, let me remind you that All Whites is New Zealand's football (or soccer depending on which continent you are reading this) team that played against Honduras during the actual world cup 2010. It was a shame that I could not go to South Africa to watch world cup football but I wasn't going to miss this. No, the tickets were not free, but the transportation was. It was freaking one hour away by bus.

The game was an absolute bang for the buck, $42 (NZD) that we paid. It was more interesting than the world cup game itself. The fact that we had amazing seats with an amazing view added to the experience. And it was special for me because it was my first game at a stadium with more than 18,000 other spectators. All Whites had tall and strong built players while Honduras had swift, not-so-tall but skilled players. The game was competitive. The linesmen made a couple errors, benefiting All Whites, drawing cheers from supporters at home ground. The score was tied at 1-1 with one heading goals each. And then All Whites received a penalty at closing 90th minute. The stadium was bustling with energy with everyone standing, awaiting for the penalty to be converted into a goal. The ball hit the bar, bounced and was punched away by the goalie but was kicked back by an All whites player, sending it a little above the bar. All Whites maintained their unbeaten streak with the game ending in a draw.

All Whites vs Honduras at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. Photo: Digital Subway
When I had woken up with the text in the afternoon, I had no idea my day was going be full of surprises and sporting excitement. I guess it's all part of studying abroad that entails a lot of fun, relaxation, surprises and excitement when you expect it the least.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Through my lens at Commonwealth Games

Lots of media coverage has been devoted to Commonwealth games being hosted in Delhi 2010 this year, mostly negative publicity. After reading so much, I could not take it anymore and decided to write a couple words about it. First of all, India has come under intense criticism from participating countries about inadequate sanitation in residence quarters provided to top global athletes. Everyone has just stepped in to add more criticism. But I see this as insensitive and in a way racist too.

To expect same sanitation in India as some other developed countries such as New Zealand, the UK or the US is unjustified and unreasonable. Do you expect a nation to change its system in a couple of months for hosting a single game? India suffers from inadequate infrastructure (relative to most developed countries) but it can not build wider roads or sturdier bridges just like that ahead of Commonwealth games. If it did, that would be magic. To criticize its standards so vehemently is insensitive. Foreign delegates and athletes probably have never experienced poverty or lived in conditions as most Indians do. Rising income of middle class in India is a myth since they are mostly limited in urban areas. Now that they are suddenly exposed to it, instead of acknowledging that conditions people inhabit in India are surprising and pitiable, they have chosen to show anger.
Athletes and delegates from participating countries are angry at organizers of Commonwealth games for providing them residence facilities characteristic of a common Indian instead of providing them five star like luxurious suites. Intense paranoia involved around inadequate sanitation facilities is also expected as westerners are freaks when it comes to sanitation. If a few cases of flu are seen in a region hundreds of miles away, suddenly hand sanitizers start appearing everywhere, in schools, universities, workplaces, restaurants and even public transport. Media has exaggerated the details about lack of sanitation anyway. 

Anytime a developing country organizes a big sporting event, westerns always have a problem with it. It was not long ago that South Africa organized FIFA world cup football 2010 which was complained for its excessive noise produced by vuvuzelas. Expect more vuvuzelas for next world cup football to be organized in Brazil in 2014. And maybe more problems too since it is also a developing country.

Now there is another problem with Commonweath games in Delhi- low turnout of spectators. Empty seats during games are starting to worry everyone. It is expected though. Why would Indians go watch games that has tainted image of their nation so badly? Cricket matches that are being played simulataneously are keeping them pretty well entertained. And prices for commonwealth games seats wouldn't be cheap by indian standards anyway.

The biggest problem I see is with this concept of Commonwealth games itself. A game between nations that were colonized by Great Britain. Really? You want to bring up those memories of being colonized and preserve the legacy? Why bring it up again then, through a sporting event? There are Olympics and continental games such as Asian games and European competitions. Anyway, foreign media may criticize all they want but that will only show their insensitivity, intolerance and innate racism.